Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Mike Schmitt — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 17:41:15 GMT

I just reproduced it on my 22.2 environment. In my child CDT the only change I needed to make was addition of a single character to the end of one of the field names.

Before:

After:

Sneha Yada - can you confirm whether or not you raised a support case for this already?

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Sneha Yada — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 07:38:56 GMT

Thank you for checking it.

We are using 21.2 and the issue exists in this version.

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Stefan Helzle — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 07:24:27 GMT

I was just testing this on 22.2 but cannot reproduce it. My document type field stays a document.

But I support Mikes recommendation of opening a support case.

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Sneha Yada — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 03:09:08 GMT

Thank You Mike for your response, we will raise a support case for this.

Yes, we will be able to replicate the issue by making (adding a new field/renaming existing field/ change filed specifications etc) any changes to child cdt.

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Mike Schmitt — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 18:15:24 GMT

[quote userid="59361" url="~/discussions/f/data/24788/field-type-in-parent-cdt-is-getting-changed-from-document-to-anytype-when-child-cdt-is-updated/95915#95915"]If you modify it outside of Appian[/quote]

This user is not saying they're modifying the CDT outside of Appian, though.

Sneha Yada, I just reproduced the described behavior in my TEST environment using 2 brand new CDTs (parent and child, similar to the ones you pictured). The Parent CDT has 2 separate fields of Document type, and after simply adding a new field to the Child CDT, the data type of the Document field in the Parent had changed itself to "Integer" instead.

This is definitely a bug. I recommend you open a Support Case with Appian - this is something they'll need to address.

Edit to add: I can also reproduce the behavior just by *minorly renaming* one of the fields in the Child CDT. As in, I didn't even have to add a *new* field to demonstrate the breakage.

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Sneha Yada — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 06:58:09 GMT

Parent CDT is transient CDT ( not added to any data store/ CDT is not mapped any table in DB).

In this case, is it expected that parent CDT data types that exist only in Appian get changed to number/ any type ?

Sorry, I didn't understand "I recommend to manage the data structures only in CDTs and let Appian maintain the DB schema", can you please explain with an example?

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Stefan Helzle — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 06:25:29 GMT

The data type "document" does only exist inside Appian. If you modify it outside of Appian, it will turn into an integer as this is the underlying representation.

I consider this to be expected behaviour.

BTW, I recommend to manage the data structures only in CDTs and let Appian maintain the DB schema. I think this fits the low-code spirit of Appian way better than hand crafted XSDs or SQL scripts.

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Sneha Yada — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 03:30:43 GMT

Yes, I tried to add a new field in both ways by updating the XSD/ updating from the designer.

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Sneha Yada — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 03:29:48 GMT

Hello

1. Parent CDT with document field and child CDT.

2.1 Child CDT before the update

2.2 Added new field in the CDT

3. After Step 2.2 parent CDT's fields type changed from document to number

Thank You,

Sneha.

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

julienc — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 12:45:13 GMT

Did you download the XSD, update it to add the field, then upload it to create a new version (as recommended by Appian)?

RE: Field type in parent CDT is getting changed from document to anytype when child CDT is updated

Stefan Helzle — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 10:14:07 GMT

I do not really understand.

In the parent there is a field of type document. Then there is some, probably nested, child CDT.

What do you mean with "added a new column"? Is this about a new field?

Where do you see this behaviour? Do you have some code you can share?